


Early Morning Tea

by bluemermaid



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Oops I Broke Up My OTP Again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-03
Updated: 2015-03-03
Packaged: 2018-03-16 05:10:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3475700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluemermaid/pseuds/bluemermaid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cho thinks about her relationship with Zacharias over tea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Early Morning Tea

Cho wakes up when Zacharias flings his arm around her. Her eyes open and she takes in the sight of him; his messy blonde hair, the faint line of stubble on his chin. He is sleeping with his mouth open, his lips parted just slightly. Cho thinks about touching him, fingertips on his lips, but she decides against it. Zacharias looks so peaceful when he sleeps. It's impossible to ever find him so serene while he's awake.

Slipping her body carefully out from under him, Cho silently gets out of bed and pulls her robe on. She decides to make a pot of tea. Zacharias will not drink any, far preferring to have a cup of coffee in the mornings. But Cho feels rather more traditional, and she will have her tea. Just one more difference between them.

Sometimes Cho isn't sure why she ever sleeps beside Zacharias Smith. He's abrasive, sarcastic, and cynical, all things that Cho tries her very hardest not to be. She's been brave when she needed to be; Zacharias ran away from the battle. But Cho doesn't like to think about the battle anymore. Perhaps she needs that dose of open cynicism once in a while, as a way of vicariously expressing her own deepest emotions. She's been brave when she needed to be, but she didn't want to be.

Cho puts the kettle on the stove and sits down at the little table in her breakfast nook, staring out at nothing and listening to silence. It's peaceful, this early hour. Zacharias speaks too loudly, fills too much space with his presence. He needs to be the center of attention, which really infuriates Cho whenever she has something to say. He questions everything.

But the silence stretches on too long, and Cho finds herself feeling restless and drifting, her mind going back to places best left dark and abandoned, hidden in the far corners of her memory. And so she smiles when Zacharias pads noisily down the hall, clearing his throat and calling out to her as he stops in the doorway.

"Making tea, are you?" He makes a face, rubbing the back of his head. "I hope you remembered to buy some coffee, as well."

"Of course I did," Cho replies. "It's in the cupboard. But how you can drink that stuff, I'll never know."

"Good," says Zacharias, walking past her to rummage through her food stores. "More for me, then."

Cho watches him move, her eyes tracking the stretching of his muscles as he reaches for the highest shelf. He's not perfectly fit, but he's easy enough to look at. But that's not why Cho is with Zacharias.

After the war, Cho wanted peace so badly, and it looked so easy with the sun rising on the freedom of the people. But lack of tangible villains does not always bring peace so clearly. They're still there, hovering on the edges of Cho Chang's sleep. She was never there to see Cedric go, but there were others since then, and she has seen things that will never completely go away. 

Zacharias was Cedric's friend, too. He questioned things because he wanted answers, some certainty in a world that became more confusing by the day. Zacharias saw things, too, and he ran away from them because he wanted peace, too, and he couldn't handle watching more of his friends burn. He is fundamentally different from Cho with his outer attitude, but perhaps there is more alike within them than anyone could possibly know.

Cho knows it isn't going to last; one day Zacharias will irritate her one too many times, and she will be forced to leave him for someone with a little more stability. But she's all right with the way things are now, the two of them coming together in some shared, secret grief. It's not a denial of her emotions, a settling for someone unsuitable, merely to cleanse herself of something. It's not just a fuck buddy, either, though that is what Cho's friends think. But it's not some lasting relationship, either, building healing upon pain. Cho and Zacharias are none of the above. They're just Cho and Zacharias, and whatever happens between them is just life, moving on and changing. Cho will be okay with any outcome, eventually. For the moment, she is happy just to be.

Zacharias turns to her. "Did you want some milk?" He asks, with the hint of a smile on his face.

Cho smiles back at him. "Yes, please."


End file.
